Here's a definition from wikianswers, but I am not sure of its reliability. It seems to mesh with what I had posted earlier.

After I posted my own description/definition, it dawned on me that maybe Rick Smith has management of only football operations, not the marketing side of things and other non-football tasks. The quote below describes differences from team-to-team as to what roles their GM does and does not perform.

Quote:

Exact responsibilities vary from team to team, but a general manager (GM) is usually responsible for the whole operation. Many teams however do not give their general manager responsibilities over financial and commercial operations, but rather only over football matters (including salaries of players and other employees connected to the sports operation). Some teams call this GM without financial responsibilities a Vice President of Football Operations or Vice President of Player Personnel. But the media will often informally refer to such positions as the 'General Manager' to indicate that this is the person ultimately responsible for building the football program.

The General Manager will have ultimate authority over the players, coaches, scouts, trainers, and basically anyone who can conceivably have an impact on the product the team puts on the field. Despite having hiring/firing power over the Head Coach, most GMs are expected to treat the coach as a near equal. The GM will consult closely with the Head Coach when selecting players, and it is universally expected that the Head Coach will have substantial powers delegated to him including total control of his roster once the offseason acquisitions are made, and control over his staff.

I think each franchise probably has its own "culture" of how it allows the GM to operate. You're probably going to find that each NFL franchise has a GM that can do sets of tasks that other GMs on other teams might not do. Think about it: When you've gone from one job to another, although the business has certain managers and certain department heads that are consistent with other businesses...not each business or entity is going to be a carbon copy of the others. What one manager can do in his current job does not mean he could become a manager at a new place of business and retain ALL of his previous roles and responsibilities...each culture will be different in many ways.

Finally, we get to hear from the Houston Texans brass prior to the 2012 NFL Combine, with Gary Kubiak and Rick Smith answering media questions. We get some of the remarks from the two and see if we can dissect their statements. Smith and Kubiak covered their free agents, the quarterback situation, draft needs, the idea of improving the wide receiver position and more.

These were the Tweets from Friday’s press conference in Indianapolis.

@MockingTheDraft: Smith says WR is a position where the Texans may upgrade.

Rick Smith makes it known the Texans are in the evaluation process, will it come from the draft or free agency? No one knows but encouraging to see something has to be done.

@MockingTheDraft: Smith says it’s the Texans’ philosophy to go BPA (Best Player Available) and not stretch for needs.

At #26 it will be safe to say the Texans have a good chance of staying true to their draft board, this opens up even more possibilities for the possible selection.

@MockingTheDraft: Rick Smith says the Texans need to do some creative restructuring to retain some of their FAs.

Probably the question of the offseason and what are the Texans going to do to sign back their big free agents. As fans we know it is not going to be easy, Smith makes it pretty clear also.

Rick Smith at the NFL Combine

@HoustonTexans: Smith: #Texans will entertain idea of moving up or down in Draft. #Combine

There will be some value with the Texans #26 pick, also they are in position to go get that “impact” player at the top of the draft. Either way, trading down will always bring in more picks.

@MockingTheDraft: Smith said he especially looks for defenders who can make a play on the ball when evaluating.

The Texans created turnovers in 2010, and they need to continue on that theme. Secondary ball hawks are a necessity in the pass happy NFL.

@NickScurfield Rick Smith said he does not expect the #Texans to be as active in free agency as they were last year.

Not another eye-opening remark, hard to do when you have little cap space to work with. Still a low-grade free agent wouldn’t be a surprise.

I can't believe the GM has final say over who gets picked instead of the coordinator who has to fit that guy into his system. Rick Smith sets no defenses (or offenses for that matter). He calls no plays. Why would his say-so carry more weight than the guy responsible for generating the defense or offense scheme??

Not only did Wade take Rick's list and whittle it down. My money says he - with his assistants - also ranked the guys on Rick's list. The only scenario I can see Rick having the final say is if Wade/Gary and the assistants have two guys ranked evenly. Then - maybe - Rick makes the call.

I'm good with that. My point is not that Rick Smith took who he wanted. This is a very "group-think" organization. Some guys make it sound as if Wade Smith came to Rick Smith with a list & said get these guys. "Forget that crap you call scouting, these are the guys I want."

It's been said that Rick Smith should get out of the way & let Wade & Gary pick the players. When Wade & Gary can not do their jobs if Rick Smith didn't do his job to begin with. Jj Watt, Brooks Reed, & Brandon Harris' name (along with 12 other players) were on Wade's list, because Rick Smith identified them as good players to begin with.

Wade may be more meticulous than our previous coordinators. He may be better at identifying what he wants than our previous coordinators. Or maybe he's less trusting.... I don't know.

But Rick Smith's role in selecting players has not been diminished because Wade Phillips is now our DC.

Like most of the things we cuss and dicuss on these forums, the decision of who decided on what pick is probably not nearly as cut and dried as we sometimes think. I would think the coordinators have a huge say, but the GM has the final say. He's the one that gets canned for bad drafts, afterall. He will also be the one who makes the call whether it's an offensive or defensive pick, based on valuation of available players and team needs.
That's why having the HC and GM on the same page is so important. If they have very different views on needs and a players value, you end up with a bad team full of players a coach doesn't want. If it were just up to the coordinators to pick who they want, all you would need is a HC to say offense or defense and a good attorney to work out the contracts and cap hits.
IMO, Smith's hardest decisions are going to be which stars to keep and which to let walk. There's no way we can keep them all.

Then said, "Harris is probably going to go in this area, we need to position our selves 'here' to have a shot.." or "If this team doesn't take Harris, we're making this move."

Same thing the year before. They had a list of Running backs. Maybe as many as 6 that they thought could fit our system. The idea may have been, "if these 6 guys are still available, we'll wait until the third round to pick a running back; if 5 are available in the third, we'll wait until the 4th; if 4 are availavle in the 4th, we'll wait until the 5th & so on & so forth.... " they may have got to the final pick & still had 3 of their guys available so they decided not to use a pick on a running back at all.

Now it's up to general manager Rick Smith and coach Gary Kubiak to use the draft to improve the team, particularly its defense, on April 28-30.

"It doesn't get any better than this," Smith said of preparing for the draft. "(The draft is) the most impact I can make on our team short term and long term."

Smith and his staff of scouts have been working for months on their draft board. The coaches also are involved in an evaluation process that's heading down the homestretch.

"We want to make sure we get everyone evaluated the right way," said Smith, who's overseeing his fifth draft with the Texans. "We've had the scouts in the office tweaking our board, then we met with our coaches.

"I want to know how the scouts and coaches have the players stacked. That way, when it comes time to make the decision, I'll be clear about how each scout and coach feels about the individual players."

Then said, "Harris is probably going to go in this area, we need to position our selves 'here' to have a shot.." or "If this team doesn't take Harris, we're making this move."

Same thing the year before. They had a list of Running backs. Maybe as many as 6 that they thought could fit our system. The idea may have been, "if these 6 guys are still available, we'll wait until the third round to pick a running back; if 5 are available in the third, we'll wait until the 4th; if 4 are availavle in the 4th, we'll wait until the 5th & so on & so forth.... " they may have got to the final pick & still had 3 of their guys available so they decided not to use a pick on a running back at all.

This probably describes every draft. Good post, though.

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"We cannot order men see the truth or prohibit them from indulging in error."

Then said, "Harris is probably going to go in this area, we need to position our selves 'here' to have a shot.." or "If this team doesn't take Harris, we're making this move."

Same thing the year before. They had a list of Running backs. Maybe as many as 6 that they thought could fit our system. The idea may have been, "if these 6 guys are still available, we'll wait until the third round to pick a running back; if 5 are available in the third, we'll wait until the 4th; if 4 are availavle in the 4th, we'll wait until the 5th & so on & so forth.... " they may have got to the final pick & still had 3 of their guys available so they decided not to use a pick on a running back at all.

All Speculation

Hopefully the Texans war room works likeit did last yr.

Wade and Gary tell Rick that they got this and he can go to the bathroom for a few hrs.

I was just picking at TK a little bit. Because in an earlier post he called me out for speculating on something. It's all in good fun.

Just because I think Rick is a yes man and doesn't spend much time or is very good at evaluating talent unlike the Jerry Reese/Colbert/Newsomes of the world doesn't make me wrong.

I'm just glad that Wade/Gary are he to make the call on who to draft. With them in charge the Texans future is very bright. Finally BoB found his Gary on the defensive side of the ball. Thanks Wade

Post 87. Call out TK all you want, I do it all the time. We rarely agree. You, on the other hand, are in lala land. Your posts neither reflect reality nor any sort of likely future. You're all about Smith when all rational discussions say he's done a pretty OK job. You're being a pink soaper that just won't quit, regardless of the facts.

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"We cannot order men see the truth or prohibit them from indulging in error."

Post 87. Call out TK all you want, I do it all the time. We rarely agree. You, on the other hand, are in lala land. Your posts neither reflect reality nor any sort of likely future. You're all about Smith when all rational discussions say he's done a pretty OK job. You're being a pink soaper that just won't quit, regardless of the facts.

Post 87?

That's Wolfs post

I get that you dont like my views. Until last yr the Texans lead by Gary/Rick were a floundering franchise. Now everythings great.

What changed? Did Rick suddenly become great at his job? That's all i'm asking. That and I dont like Rick blowing the BPA crap up my rear.

Because I question Ricks BPA statement,all of the sudden I'm in LA-LA land.

I get that you dont like my views. Until last yr the Texans lead by Gary/Rick were a floundering franchise. Now everythings great.

What changed? Did Rick suddenly become great at his job? That's all i'm asking. That and I dont like Rick blowing the BPA crap up my rear.
Because I question Ricks BPA statement,all of the sudden I'm in LA-LA land.

I don't think anything changed. I think Rick Smith has been an excellent GM for the past 3 years, at least. This year we won and that makes him look better. I'll say again: what Smith did in the 2009 off-season is going to be remembered for 20 years or more around here. It will go down as one of the best off-season's in NFL history if this team is about to go on the run that I think it is.

As far as his BPA statements: yeah, he's blowing smoke. That's what most of them do, though. What I'll say, though, is they have done a good job not reaching for players. They positioned themselves well and identified their guys each of the past 4 years with the possible exception of 2010. That's a pretty good rate of success. Arguably, the Texans have drafted 3 all-pro players in the first round the past four years. I wouldn't argue to much about the method that achieved those results.

I get tired of having to preface everything on a message board dedicated to kicking around opinions on all things football.

I expect people to know that I am giving an opinion even if I don't put things like "I am thinking..." or "In my opinion..." or whatever the slow people need in order to FULLY understand that I am being opinionated and expect others to be equally as creative or thoughtful in their analysis. But a person has to do it, or the Speculation Squad will come knocking on the door with a snarky reply to put someone in their "rightful" place.

Until we have a fully published book on how Bob and Gary and Rick TRULY operate, we'll have snippets of quotes and there'll still be a lot left to be discussed and commented upon with OPINIONS by us around here.

A lot of times, the always fun and very awkward reply of "You're just speculating" is the grown-up version of sticking fingers in your ears and acting like you can't hear the person.

I wonder which will come first: World peace or a message board where everyone understands that speculating is normal and perfectly fine?

This is the virtual version of the barber shop: The place where guys act like they know everything and could make the world run better if just given a chance to implement our awesome plans and ideas. Am I right? If so, then why don't we just be about the business of being guys and have fun with it.

I don't think anything changed. I think Rick Smith has been an excellent GM for the past 3 years, at least. This year we won and that makes him look better. I'll say again: what Smith did in the 2009 off-season is going to be remembered for 20 years or more around here. It will go down as one of the best off-season's in NFL history if this team is about to go on the run that I think it is.

As far as his BPA statements: yeah, he's blowing smoke. That's what most of them do, though. What I'll say, though, is they have done a good job not reaching for players. They positioned themselves well and identified their guys each of the past 4 years with the possible exception of 2010. That's a pretty good rate of success. Arguably, the Texans have drafted 3 all-pro players in the first round the past four years. I wouldn't argue to much about the method that achieved those results.

Agreed

This team is built on 3 drafts. IMHO

2006,2009,2012

The rest of the drafts have either been meh or like the 2007 draft bad.

Rick wasn't hear for the 2006 draft so he's batting .500. However to give credit where credit is due Rick hit a homerun on the 2009 draft. Wade helped him on the 2011 draft. (Another homerun)

The measure of Rick as a GM will come over the next 2 yrs with all of the contracts needing to be reupped. If he does a great job there (signing the right guys and letting the right guys go) the Texans should be a great team for yrs to come.

BTW, I used to be on the fire Gary bandwagon. I still dont think he's a great gameday coach. But his work with Yates and the fact that the Texans will be needing another QB soon has me on the lets give Gary a 2 yr extention bandwagon.

The rest of the drafts have either been meh or like the 2007 draft bad.

Rick wasn't hear for the 2006 draft so he's batting .500. However to give credit where credit is due Rick hit a homerun on the 2009 draft. Wade helped him on the 2011 draft. (Another homerun)

The measure of Rick as a GM will come over the next 2 yrs with all of the contracts needing to be reupped. If he does a great job there (signing the right guys and letting the right guys go) the Texans should be a great team for yrs to come.

BTW, I used to be on the fire Gary bandwagon. I still dont think he's a great gameday coach. But his work with Yates and the fact that the Texans will be needing another QB soon has me on the lets give Gary a 2 yr extention bandwagon.

Nooooo!

You can't DO this!!!
Who will I debate with?!?!

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Loyalty to any one sports team is pretty hard to justify. ...the players are always changing, the team can move to another city, you're actually rooting for the clothes when you get right down to it.